This invention relates generally to variable tone electric guitars and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved switching system for interchanging the selection and combination of pickup outputs to provide a wide variety of output sounds.
There are two general electric guitar sounds prevalent in the music industry today: the Gibson tonality and the Fender tonality. The Gibson tonality, such as exemplified in the LES PAUL guitar, is obtained from either or both of two dual coil hum-canceling pickups referred to herein as humbucker pickups. The Fender tonality, such as exemplified in the STRATOCASTER or TELECASTER guitars, is obtained from selected combinations of three single coil pickups.
A switching system by which either a Gibson tonality or a Fender tonality can be obtained from a single electric guitar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,918 to Riboloff, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. The preferred embodiment system of the Riboloff patent uses two dual coil humbucker pickups and one single coil pickup and switching devices to allow a player to select one of at least three Gibson tonalities associated with the LES PAUL guitar or one of five Fender tonalities associated with the STRATOCASTER guitar.